The present invention relates to a numbering head assembly which can be attached to a printing press to enable the printing of consecutive numbers on each sheet of paper printed in the printing press. More particularly, the invention is directed to a relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated numbering head assembly which may be attached to an offset press to facilitate use of the press to print consecutive numbers.
The prior art illustrates that it is known to provide means for printing consecutive numbers on printed items such as invoices or tickets. However, such printing presses which are generally used are relatively large and, consequently, expensive. Smaller, less expensive printing presses have not been provided with means which facilitate consecutive numbering of material printed therein. Consequently, operators of larger, more expensive printing presses have had a competitive advantage over their not so affluent competitors because it was generally necessary for operators of smaller printing presses to use a separate numbering machine to print consecutive numbers. This required that printed material be run in two consecutive operations requiring generally twice the time required with the larger, more expensive printing presses which allowed both operations to be performed simultaneously.
Previous attempts have been proposed to adapt smaller printing presses to include consecutive numbering means to facilitate simultaneous printing and consecutive numbering of printed material. However, the apparatus which has been proposed is either unduly complicated and costly to attach to the printing presses to the extent that such apparatus is prohibitively expensive, or the apparatus previously proposed was incapable of producing a quality impression on the printed matter. One such known attachment provides means which are secured to the printing press in such a manner that printed sheets could be consecutively numbered prior to removal from the feeder unit. Such apparatus have the drawback, however, that the printed paper receives the printing head when the paper is stacked in relatively soft piles and, consequently, the impressions printed thereon were often smudged or otherwise undesirable.